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Silicon storage media, controller and access method thereofRelated Patent Categories: Electrical Computers And Digital Processing Systems: Memory, Storage Accessing And Control, Control TechniqueSilicon storage media, controller and access method thereof description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20050251632, Silicon storage media, controller and access method thereof. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 93112721, filed May 6, 2004. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a silicon storage media, and more particularly, to a variable length data frame based silicon storage media, a controller, and an access method thereof. [0004] 2. Description of Related Art [0005] It is common to use a memory made of silicon chip as a silicon storage media in the present time. Most of the silicon storage media are connected to a system interface via a controller in order to write information into memory or read information from memory and transmit information to the system. Wherein, since it is characterized by its low power consumption, high reliability, high capacity, fast data access rate, the silicon storage media had been widely used in various portable digital electronic apparatus, such as the products of digital camera, digital walkman, personal digital assistant (PDA), its business is growing rapidly. Many types of the silicon storage media are derived from the original silicon storage media, including: Compact Flash Card (CF), Memory Stick Card (MS), Secure Digital Card (SD), Smart Media Card (SM), etc. In addition, when it is applied in the personal computer, the USB portable disk using the Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become a very popular product in recent year. [0006] The storage capacity of various portable storage apparatus which are used as the silicon storage media and are made of the silicon chip memory mentioned above are limited by the capacity of its embedded memory. The controller inside the portable storage apparatus only has one interface, which is connected to a system for receiving an instruction from the system and accessing the content in the memory according to the received instruction. Therefore, the major portion of the portable storage apparatus cost is the cost of the memory chip. In order to reduce the manufacture cost, a major subject is how to fully utilize the limited capacity of the memory. [0007] A conventional memory allocation method is described hereinafter. In the prior art, data is mainly processed in a unit of a single sector, and a page is mainly designated as a basic storage unit of the silicon storage media. Wherein, the size of one sector is 512 bytes, and the size of one single page is depended on the silicon storage media. A 64 MB NAND type flash memory 100 shown in FIG. 1A is composed of 4096 blocks indicated by the reference number 104, and each block 104 is composed of 32 pages. In addition, each page is composed of 512 bytes data area +16 bytes redundant area constituting a total size of 528 bytes. A 128 MB NAND type flash memory 106 shown in FIG. 1B is composed of 1024 blocks equaling to 64 pages. In such case, the size of each page is 2048 bytes data area +64 bytes redundant area constituting a total size of 2112 bytes. [0008] A single page is designated as a basic access (read/write) unit of the silicon storage media. However, in order to accurately record information, an erase operation is performed on the silicon storage media first in order to erase the page contents before writing the information, such that the written information can be accurately preserved. In addition, the time required for performing the erase operation is longer than the time required for performing the access operation. Since the circuitry required for controlling the erase operation is very complicated, in order to reduce the manufacture cost, it is a general approach that the silicon storage media intends to improve the unit capacity impacted by the erase operation. For example, 32 pages are combined into a single block, such that the erase operation can only impact the continuous capacity space of a single block in one time so as to reduce the quantity of the required circuitries installed in the silicon storage media and to achieve the object of reducing the manufacture cost. [0009] In summary, the main characteristics of the silicon storage media are as follows. (a). The unit capacity of the access operation is different from the unit capacity of the erase operation. The access operation is mainly processed in a unit of pages, and the erase operation is mainly processed in a unit of blocks. However, it is common that a single block may comprise a couple of continuous pages. (b). The time required for performing these two operations are not the same. The time required for performing the erase operation is longer than the time required for performing the access operation. (c). It has to make sure the page to be read is erased and empty before the write operation is performed, such that the written data can be accurately recorded in the silicon storage media. The silicon storage media controller makes good use of the characteristics mentioned above, so as to avoid performing the erase operation on whole block even only one or two pages are required to write during the write operation, which causes longer operation time and also deteriorates access performance. With such method, the record space of the silicon storage media can be fully utilized. [0010] FIG. 2A is a schematic block diagram illustrating an internal structure of a conventional silicon storage media 200. The conventional silicon storage media 200 is mainly composed of a silicon storage media controller 210 and more than one memory 220. A microprocessor 213 is installed inside the silicon storage media controller 210 for transmitting and receiving instruction and data to/from an external computer system (not shown) via a system interface 211. After the data is stored in a data buffer 215, the data is written into the memory 220 via a memory interface 217. On the other hand, after the data is read from the memory 220 and temporarily stored in the data buffer 215, the data is sent back to the computer system which requests to read data via the system interface 211. [0011] It is known from the description mentioned above that the characteristics of the configuration and the data record structure of the conventional silicon storage media controller are as follows. (a). The original data is directly stored into a designated address in the silicon storage media without any compression. (b). A page is designated as a basic access (read/write) unit, and the control information such as the index indicator and the error check and correction code are marked in each page's reserved redundant area. After all required control information is stored, it is common that some non-used reserved space still left in the control information record area. Although the capacity of the non-used space is not so significant with respect to each page size, it is really a waste of resource to some extent when all redundant areas are accumulated. [0012] In addition, in order to improve the data storage capacity of the memory module, a compression function (or a module) may be furthered installed inside the controller. However, since a sector of 512 bytes is not big enough, the compression performance is not impressive. [0013] In summary, in the silicon storage media mentioned above, since a page is designated as an access unit, the controller performance cannot be fully deployed. If an erased block is designated as a basic access unit in cooperated with the technique of the data compression unit and data decompression unit which are installed inside or outside of the controller, the storage capacity of the memory card can be improved even under the condition of not installing additional hardware component for the silicon storage media. In addition, with such method, the performance is improved, the redundant area in each page is fully utilized, and the compression performance is further improved. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0014] Therefore, the present invention is directed to a silicon storage media for reducing wasting of the redundant area and for effectively improving the data update and compression performance, a controller, and an access method thereof. [0015] The present invention is directed to a silicon storage media controller. Wherein, a variable length data frame is designated as a basic operation unit for the block, such that the silicon storage media controller can fully utilizes its computing power and can make good use of the limited capacity of the memory. In the present invention, when the system intends to write the data into the portable storage device, the data content is compressed inside or outside of the controller first, and then recorded into the memory. On the other hand, when the system intends to read the data, the previously compressed data is read from the memory into the controller first, and the data is then sent back to the system after it is decompressed. The original data is compressed into a corresponding data by a compression module and a corresponding decompression module provided by a compression mechanism, such that the storing performance of the memory is significantly improved due to the fact that the amount of the data access between the external system and the memory had been significantly reduced. [0016] The present invention is directed to a silicon storage media where a block with a large capacity is designated as a basic operation unit, a controller and an access method thereof. An optimal compression/decompression mechanism is obtained from the combination of a plurality of algorithms and parameters built in the controller. In addition, the efficiency and the compression rate of the data compression/decompression are improved by increasing the capacity of a basic controlled unit, and the data amount of the external data is used as a micro data optimal to the block, such that the utilization of the record space is further improved. [0017] The present invention is also directed to a silicon storage media where the block mentioned above is designated as a basic operation unit, a controller and an access method thereof. Accordingly, the computer system can write a plurality of sectors data in one time, compress and write the data into the memory in one time only when the amount of the data temporarily stored in the silicon storage media accumulated is equal to a storage capacity of one block, such that the computer system can avoid wasting too much time in waiting for the writing. In addition, a whole block can be erased and written later when it is being updated, thus the problem of erasing the whole data area in order to write only one or two pages data is no longer required. [0018] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a silicon storage media controller suitable for the silicon storage media comprising a memory module and where a block is designated as an erase unit of the memory module is provided. The silicon storage media controller comprises a system interface, a memory interface, a data buffer and a data compression/decompression module. The system interface is electrically coupled to a computer system, the memory interface is electrically coupled to the memory module, the data buffer is electrically coupled to the system interface and the memory interface, and the data compression/decompression module is electrically coupled to the data buffer via a bi-directional bus for compressing/decompressing the data stored in the data buffer. Wherein, the data transmitted from the computer system via the system interface is compressed into a data frame whose size is suitable for the block storage capacity, and the data frame is then stored into the memory module. [0019] The present invention further provides a method of writing data into the silicon storage media suitable for the silicon storage media where a block is designated as an erase unit. The writing method comprises following steps. The original data is compressed to a compressed data before it is stored into the silicon storage media first, and then a preceding description unit including a range of the original data is inserted in front of the compressed data in order to generate a data frame. Finally, the data frame is stored into the silicon storage media. In the case where the original data is already stored in the silicon storage media, a data frame corresponding to the original data is read from the silicon storage media first, and then the data obtained by decompressing the data frame is updated according to the original data, and the updated data is converted into a data frame format complied with the block storage capacity mentioned above and is finally stored in the silicon storage media. [0020] In an embodiment of the present invention, in order to increase data reliability, an error check and correction code is further added at the end of the data frame. The preceding description unit further comprises a plurality of algorithms and parameters used for compressing the original data and a status of the block where the data is stored. In addition, the range of the original data mentioned above is represented by a start address and a length of the original data. [0021] The present invention further provides a method of reading data from the silicon storage media suitable for the silicon storage media where a block is designated as an erase and write unit, wherein each block in the silicon storage media only has one data frame. The data frame comprises a preceding description unit for indicating a range of a non-compressed original data. The reading method comprises following steps. A data frame is read from the silicon storage media first, then the data frame is decompressed according to the preceding description unit, and finally the original data obtained by decompressing the data frame is output from the silicon storage media. Continue reading about Silicon storage media, controller and access method thereof... 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